By Irene Hsiao
As a growing body of research shows, modifications to RNA plays a vital role in the translation and deployment of proteins in cells. In “Programmable RNA-Guided RNA Effector Proteins Built from Human Parts,” published 20 June 2019 in Cell, the Dickinson lab has developed a new tool to study, modify, and regulate RNA. CRISPR/Cas-inspired RNA targeting system (CIRTS) directs effector proteins, such as nucleases, degradation machinery, translational activators, and base editors, to specific RNA sequences, allowing a range of possibilities for probing and affecting the transcriptome. Engineered entirely from human proteins and smaller in size than CRISPR-Cas tools, CIRTS offers a possible solution to issues such as human immune responses to CRISPR and other existing gene editing technologies.
First author Simone Rauch recently received two honors for this work, the Knowles Poster Award at the 2019 Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference and the Harper Dissertation Fellowship, one of the top honors awarded to students nearing completion of their theses. Now a rising fifth-year graduate student, Rauch was determined to pursue biochemistry as a high school student in Zurich, Switzerland. “I was particularly interested in how nature uses chemistry,” she says. After graduating magna cum laude from Boston University with honors in chemistry and biochemistry, Rauch found herself in Dickinson’s chemical biology course her first quarter at the University of Chicago. “Bryan introduced me to the idea of using chemical tools to study biology. I was intrigued by the possibility of creating a new approach/tool and applying it to study a biological question, and working in the Dickinson group combines these two worlds.” Rauch is currently focused on optimizing CIRTS for application in clinically relevant settings, such as cell repair. “The most rewarding part of this work is that it could have practical applications in the long run. Being able to develop and optimize a system that has the potential to be used as a therapeutic brings a real sense of purpose to what I do every day.”
Read more about CIRTS on UChicago News